Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk found that US and European citizens had become "more cynical about the value of democracy as a political system, less hopeful that anything they do might influence public policy, and more willing to express support for authoritarian alternatives."

"Over the last three decades, trust in political institutions such as parliaments or the courts has precipitously declined across the established democracies of North America and Western Europe," Foa and Mounk said. "So has voter turnout."

They looked at data from the World Values Survey from 1995 to 2014 along four themes: citizens' support for the democratic system; their support for civil rights; their engagement with the political process; and their "openness to authoritarian alternatives such as military rule."

"Among older generations, the devotion to democracy is about as fervent and widespread as one might expect," Foa and Mounk said. But that support declines as the survey respondents get younger.

Journal of Democracy

The youngest generation is becoming more antidemocratic. "On the whole, support for political radicalism in North America and Western Europe is higher among the young, and support for freedom of speech lower," Foa and Mounk said.

Journal of Democracy

Interest in the political process is waning. "In the United States, one in 11 baby boomers has joined a demonstration in the past 12 months, but only one in 15 millennials has done so," according to the report.

Journal of Democracy

The number of people who think that military rule is a "good" or "very good" thing is rising rapidly. "In 1995, just one in 16 respondents agreed with that position; today, one in six agree," the report said.